The Bad Boy and the Other Bad Boy

Chapter 3

I stared at Rio. "Wait, you don't know where Denver is? " 

Rio glared back, then his shoulders slumped - realising I hadn't kidnapped actually Denver. "You're a smart one. " he said sarcastically, but the fight was gone from his voice as he motioned for the Wolverines to leave. 

They melted away from our table - not without leaving us with a few hostile stares. 

I watched them go. 

"Fuck was that about, man? " Ryan settled down at our table. 

I raised my eyebrows and slid onto the seat beside him. "Sounds like little Dicky Denver didn't have his leash on and got lost or something. Mummy wasn't watching close enough. " 

The Cobras around me laughed, sharing a dislike of Denver - although it didn't go as deep as my hate. I laughed too, but deep down my mind was churning.

Denver was plotting something. I was sure of it. 

--

After school, I went home. On Tuesdays my dad went out to the pub with a bunch of Cobras and didn't come back until late - I thought it would be a good time to check up on my mom. 

I closed the door quietly - force of habit. Then I paused. 

Voices came from upstairs faintly - my mom's, and... 

I cocked my head, letting my bag slip off my shoulder. 

Confused, I began to climb up the stairs. "Mom? "

The voices abruptly halted.

I climbed faster and opened the door to the master bedroom slowly. 

My mother came into view, her back to me, smoothing the duvet across the bed. 

"Mom? "I repeated. 

She turned, her mouth opening. "Jax! Hi, baby!"

"Hi, Mom. " I replied, lips turning up into a faint smile as I scanned the room. "I thought I heard someone... " 

Her brow furrowed. "Only me, Jax. " she said, turning to close the open window. "You must be going mad. Come on, you probably haven't eaten good food in ages, I know you. I have some leftover potato pie in the fridge... " 

She was right. I hadn't eaten good food in ages. 

I raced back down the stairs to the fridge, forgetting about the voices. 

---

My mother was nothing like my father. 

Where he was a stray dog - a large, unclean, and loud one, she was a collie - smart, quiet and loyal. In fact, she reminded me in a weird way of Denver. The way he acted with the Wolverines - and he didn't piss off teachers like I did... 

No, what the fuck. That's weird. Denver was an asshole, as far as you could get from my gentle mother. I remember once I spent all night cleaning smashed raw eggs off the outside of my house - courtesy of Denver and his friends - because I didn't want my mother to see it and think I was getting into to fights (which I was). To be fair (I am not ) Denver and his mates only egged my house because I said he had a thing for Mrs McCoy, in front of her and the whole class, and that was why he took Advanced Physics. I still don't actually know the real reason he took AP.  However, I could hardly tell my mum that, after I'd just been suspended for punching Denver in the stomach because he was flirting with my girlfriend of that time. To be honest, she wasn't the hottest I'd ever had, but she was mine and what, was I meant to just let Denver fuck with what was mine? If you think that, you don't know me at all.